Tag: Selected

  • Selected unveils Future You store concept

    Selected unveils Future You store concept

    Retail design agency Dalziel & Pow has created an elevated retail experience for Bestseller Fashion Group China’s “Selected” brand.

    The new premium Future You store concept is to be launched initially in a series of stores in Beijing, delivering a space “ready to connect, change, and dress the future consumer”. The design is an attempt to raise Selected’s profile as the destination for on-trend, quality workwear, as well as building an aspirational lifestyle model around the brand.

    Integrating a dynamic, hyper-connected experience to impress China’s digital natives, the store includes projections, kinetic signage and a live social media feed behind the cash desk to evoke a sense of change and “newness”. A “magic mirror” within the fitting rooms area allows customers to swipe through products to find their perfect outfit, which once chosen can then be shared via WeChat.

    Integrated throughout the store on the perimeter rails are pocket-sized screens, called “Debriefs” which showcase bite-sized snippets of product information, education on materials and fashion inspiration.

    The design language for the store was developed to create a feeling of “one space”, a concept designed for people and not for genders; a fluid space creating flow between categories and reflecting the fact that Chinese couples often shop together. A single product rail flows through the whole store, symbolically unifying the space.

    Selected’s fitting rooms form a key architectural feature as well as a social space, as is the cash desk. There are also separate shop-in-shop areas for Chinos and Denim, enhanced by miniature screens detailing fit and fabric qualities.

  • Stephen Marks mulls French Connection sale

    Stephen Marks mulls French Connection sale

    French Connection founder and CEO Stephen Marks plans to sell his remaining cornerstone stake in the fashion label.

    Sky News UK has reported Marks has engaged Numis Securities to approach prospective buyers for the 42 per cent stake in French Connection which he still holds. He founded the brand back in 1969.

    UK media is reporting that should a buyer be found for the stake, it would almost certainly trigger a takeover bid for the entire company. A formal stock exchange announcement is pending.

    French Connection is emerging from a challenging period in its history after its hugely successful FCUK era brand positioning fell from favour in the late 2000s. In recent months, it has built strong sales online via Asos and it raised £23.3 million from the sale of 75 per cent of its Toast label in April to Danish retailer Bestseller United, parent of Selected, Vera Moda and Jack & Jones, among others.

    But the parent brand, now down to a store network of only about 30, recorded a like-for-like sales decline of 7 per cent in the half year to July 31 and a loss of £5.5 million. Marks, however, anticipates the business will be profitable by January with licensing income on the rise, reaching £2.6 million for the period, and wholesale revenues up 6.2 per cent.

    Any deal for Marks’ stake will be heavily influenced by the second largest shareholder in French Connection, Mike Ashley, who holds 27 per cent of the stock. Ashley recently bought out troubled House of Fraser and is CEO of Sports Direct.